Police seize nearly one tonne of ivory

A joint police operation led to the seizure of nearly a tonne of ivory hidden in containers in Sihanoukville port yesterday.

Lim Bum Heng, Sihanoukville’s deputy prosecutor led the search.

The ivory was found at Sihanoukville port.

He said authorities opened three containers in Sihanoukville port and found pieces of wood. Further investigation revealed that the wood was used to hide 279 pieces of ivory, with a total weight of 941 kilograms. “We had suspicions that these containers hid illegal items, which is why we opened them,” Mr Bum Heng said. “We are keeping the ivory at the customs office for examination.”

Authorities said the containers belonged to Cam Transit Import Company, which transported them from Mozambique.

The company was earlier caught hiding 1.3 tonnes of elephant tusk ivory in Phnom Penh in December 2016.

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